Mary Shafer

Ferndale, PA USA
Contact

Professional Experience

From trade and consumer magazine articles to books and blog posts, ad copy and press releases to winning web copy, I'm a full-time journalist and marketing copywriter. Specializing in an eclectic mix of topics: weather, education, history and pets; marketing, indie publishing and wastewater management. A veteran writer with more than 25 years in the business, I deliver quality editorial and commercial copy that engages readers and drives results. A longtime ASJA member with well over 600 published articles, I take pride in my professional integrity and work ethic, delivering on time for national and regional magazines and newspapers, and Web-based publications.

Expertise

Copywriter
30 Years
Book Author
25 Years
Reporter
35 Years

Specialty

Arts & Humanities
25 Years
Entrepreneurship
25 Years
Environment & Nature
10 Years

Industries


Newspaper - Local/Regional
25 Years
Marketing (firm) - Small to mid-sized corp. cl
30 Years
Book Publishing Consumer
23 Years

Total Media Industry Experience

30 Years

Media Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

Cole Publishing (10+), Montgomery Media (1-2), Bucks County Herald (10+)

Corporate Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

All American Wood Register (10+), Impact Thrift Stores (10+), Empathy Lab (3-5)

Other Work History

President of Rhino Tactics, a construction-specific ad agency, from 1999-2001

Technical Skills

Graphic design (25 years), WordPress website development & maintenance

Foreign Language Skills

Some French, a tiny bit of Spanish. No fluency

Unions

formerly National Writers Union

Computer Skills

Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Creative Suite, WordPress

Equipment

Apple Macintosh platform; Sony and Olympus digital cameras; digital audio recorders; smartphone; iPad; MS Office suite, Adobe Creative Suite, Evernote, Dropbox

Work Permits & Visas

US Passport

References

Suzan Marie Chin, Creative Raven, raven@creativeraven.com; Martin Focazio, Martin_Focazio@epam.com; Jo Greenawalt, nonprofit orgs, josiegirl1503@gmail.com; Jim Kneiszel, Cole Publishing, editor@promonthly.com; Brenda Lange, institutional publications, brenda@brendalange.com

Awards

Several book awards in independent publishing

Associations

ASJA, Cat Writers Assn., Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group (GLVWG), Twin Rivers Writers Group (TWIWG), AWE-USA (weather), SkyWarn (weather),

Showcase

Commercial Copy

This was a super-rush job for a super-important Hollywood client. I worked from the barest wireframe with some minimal verbal and email coaching and turned the copy in less than 48 hours. The client was thrilled that the quality allowed them to present it to the client without editing.
One of an ongoing series of weekly ads I write for this service-based local company. I've had their account since they launched the business more than a dozen years ago, helping build from nothing to an active client list in excess of 8,000, and topping the local Best Of contest for 5 years.

Editorial Work - Trade

This is one of many, many contractor profiles I've written for four of Cole Publishing's titles addressing the wastewater management industry. I've written for Cole since 2001.

Editorial Work - Consumer

I write occasionally for this respected alumni magazine in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley.